1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a rotary camera for photographically recording a plurality of original documents on a roll of microfilm, the microfilm is moved in. The direction reverse to the traveling direction of the original documents which are fed successively to be photographed by the rotary camera. Particularly, the invention relates to such a rotary camera having a data recording device for recording data relating to the photographed original documents and also recording an error mark if some erroneous condition is detected during the successive photographing operations. The erroneous condition automatically detected and recorded on the microfilm, according to the invention, includes jamming of the original documents and the lamp-off condition at which the light quantity illuminating the original document at the photographing position drops below a certain level. A jam mark is recorded in the former case, and a lamp-off mark is recorded in the latter case.
2. Prior Art Statement
The rotary camera has been developed and used as one type of the cameras in which microfilm is used to store photographed images. Generally in a rotary camera, the microfilm roll is intermittently moved in the direction reverse to the travelling direction of the original documents to be photographed, and the light incident on the successive original documents is reflected by the surface of each so as to pass through a slit, and is focused on the surface of the continuously moving microfilm roll so that images of the original documents are photographically recorded on the microfilm roll successively.
Together with the photographed images, it is desirable to record necessary data, such as date, time, contents or types of the original documents, and other data on the microfilm. In conventional devices, the such data has been recorded on the microfilm roll while holding the film by on a flat plate in a stationary manner and exposing the film to lights emitted from an eight-segment light emitting element. Accordingly, in order to record such data on the film, feeding of the microfilm must be stopped.
Since the microfilm roll is stopped and held while the backside of a portion of the microfilm roll is supported by a flat back-up plate, the length of the film passage route is increased and an additional space for accommodating the flat plate and eight-segment light emitting element is required. The necessity of intermittent stopping the microfilm roll also complication the driving mechanism and adds difficulty to the assembly of the total system Since a relatively large eight-segment light emitting element must be assembled in the system in opposition to the flat back-up plate, compactness of the system is hindered.
Meanwhile, although plural original documents are fed successively one after another at a constant travelling rate and at constant intervals in the normal photographing operation, jamming or other abnormal feeding of the documents often occur due to the presence of folding lines creases or other irregularities in the documents. Once jamming occurs, jammed document sheets must be rearranged in the normal condition, and photographing of the documents must be re-started from the document which is fed prior to the occurrence of the disorder causing jamming. As a result, some number of the documents fed prior to the occurrence of jamming are photographed repeatedly. However, the image in each frame on the microfilm roll is too small to identify the location of the frame at which jamming occurs or to find the repeatedly photographed images of the same document by visually observing the developed microfilm.
Accompanying the occurrence of jamming, the photographed image sequence is somehow disturbed. For example, the length of a certain frame is increased or an abnormally long blank space is left between adjacent frames. However, by only inspecting the developed film visually, it is difficult to to ascertain the true cause of such a disturbance. For instance, even if a long blank space is left at a certain location, it is difficult to judge whether the blank space indicates the termination of a normal sequential photographing operation or jamming or other malfunction.
Another malfunction which might occur during the successive photographing operation is a lamp failure condition at which the lamp illuminating the document surface is damaged, for example, by breakdown of the filament of the lamp. When the a lamp failure condition occurs, the film continues to be moved, as though normal photographing operation is continued, without being exposed to the image-bearing light. Once the camera has been in the lamp failure condition, the broken lamp must be exchanged and the photographing operation must be repeated to photograph the documents fed after the occurrence of the lamp failure condition. In such a case, some of the documents might be repeatedly photographed in the preceding and subsequent operation cycles. However, since the photographed images are too small to be inspected. Visually, it is difficult to identify the particular document which has been photographed occurrence during the lamp failure condition and to ascertain the repeatedly photographed images.
When the lamp-off condition occurs, some blank space appears on the microfilm. However, it is difficult to judge the true cause for such a blank space by only visually inspecting the developed film. For instance, even if a long blank space is left at a certain location, it is difficult to judge whether the blank space indicates the termination of normal sequential photographing operation or indicates the occurrence of the lamp failure condition.